Steel company to build turbine bases for wind project off the DE-MD coast

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Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan Thursday  joined Ørsted and Crystal Steel in Caroline County on the state’s Eastern Shore to announce Maryland’s first offshore wind steel fabrication center.

“The entire mission of my administration has been to leave our state in better shape for future generations,” said Hogan. “That means adding jobs, it means making Maryland more affordable, and it also means investing in our state’s energy future. That’s exactly why I’m so pleased to celebrate this transformative partnership between Ørsted and Crystal Steel to establish Maryland’s very first offshore wind steel fabrication center.”

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The $72 million partnership will allow Crystal Steel to increase its workforce by 30% in order to construct Ørsted’s turbine foundations. These turbines will provide renewable energy to 1.3 million homes across the state.

The turbines would operate about 20 miles off the coast of Fenwick Island, DE, and Ocean City, Md at Ørsted’s Skipjack wind farm.

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Ocean City officials want to move the turbines and towers further offshore, claiming the structures will damage tourism. Wind power backers say the turbine towers that are equal in height to large skyscrapers will amount to a dot on the horizon.

While the Skipjack power would be counted toward Maryland’s renewable energy mandate, Ørsted says the wind farm will boost the Delaware economy.

Ørsted expects electric lines from Skipjack to come ashore in Delaware, with the Indian River Power Plant site a possible candidate. The coal-fired plant could close as early as next year.

 

Hogan noted that Maryland has experienced the nation’s fourth-fastest job growth and was recently named the most improved state for business in America. 

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